Penn Students Temporarily Block Entrance to Football Game in Response to Racist GroupMe

Just before halftime at the Harvard-UPenn football game on Friday, November 11, over a hundred students defiantly responded to the news that numerous black freshmen were added to a racist GroupMe earlier that day.

According to a statement from the University of Pennsylvania, “Black freshman students at Penn were added to a racist GroupMe account that appears to be based in Oklahoma. The account itself is totally repugnant: it contains violent, racist and thoroughly disgusting images and messages. This is simply deplorable.”

The protesters marched to Franklin Field and entered the stadium. Some were temporarily denied entry, but many Penn fans were unable to get to the game as well since the doors to the stadium had been shut.

At the game, the protest was peaceful as a diverse group of students stood with fists raised, shouting, “Black Lives Matter!” As the protest progressed, the students began stomping and shouting, “No Justice, No Peace!” Finally, the group yelled, “Whose Penn? Our Penn!” before returning to the original “Black Lives Matter!” chant.

Prior to leading the protesters out of the stadium, the leader of the group gave a positive message: “this is a battle, and it is not over today, but today our message was heard.” Then the group left the stadium, continuing their calls for equality and understanding on Penn’s campus.

A smaller group of Penn seniors carried their class flag along the sidelines of the game with fists raised as well.